“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

This axiom demonstrates why our so-called war on poverty has failed. We have spent untold amounts of money and resources to conduct this war and have not made any significant change in the last 60 years.

Liberals show us some poor child that is hungry. They invoke a sympathy card, telling us that we cannot neglect this poor child. So we appropriate money to feed that child. But guess what? That child will be hungry again tomorrow, next week, etc. Since we did not educate the responsible individuals — parents, caregivers, etc. — how to provide for that child, we must appropriate monies again to feed the child. After a period of time, all parties involved become dependent on the system for the needed support. And food is only one small part of the welfare state. It has moved into housing, medical care, even the “right” to cell phones and more.

Sequestration, budget cuts and other attempts by various governments to curb the costs are then condemned by the liberals as unfair to the poor, seniors, children, etc. North Carolinians now have “Moral Mondays” so the liberals can have a public stage from which to cry foul.

Let’s face it, many politicians want us to be dependent on them. That helps solidify their future in the political arena. Apparently, the new American dream is not to be self-sufficient but rather to garner as much as possible from the public coffers. When will it ever end?

Although we are the most affluent country ever known to mankind, our resources are finite. And since we have half of the nation receiving benefits without contributing, the resources become even more strained.

There should be a limit to what a family or individual can draw from the welfare world. At a given time, they need to become responsible to work and pay back into the system they have been using. That would then make resources available to the next person who needs assistance.

I love the old saying “a hand up, not a hand out.” But since half of the population is on the receiving end of these benefits, they will continue to elect officials who will promise continued benefits. And the cycle will continue until we are broke and the system collapses.

Check history — the same thing has happened to every democratic system that ever existed. Are we doomed to the same fate?